This project will investigate a series of approximately twelve episodes in the development between 1910 and 1965 of modern fundamental concepts of nerve conduction and synaptic transmission. Major figures whose work will be studied include Lucas, Adrian, Forbes, Erlanger, Gasser, Bronk, Cannon, Dale, Loewi, Cole, Hodgkin, Huxley, Eccles and Katz. Research will focus on how these and other investigators used new electrical instrumentation, delicate techniques, and biophysical models to elucidate a series of general principles concerning the way neurons and synapses transmit and process information. This historical reconstruction, interpretation, and analysis will be based upon published papers and books, upon manuscript laboratory notes and correspondence where available, and upon detailed focused interviews with investigators and/or their students and associates.